The Lipscomb baseball team wrapped up the 2013 Omaha Challenge on Thursday with the final events, an obstacle course and the fireman’s carry.

“The Omaha Challenge is designed to be a culmination of all of our weight training for the semester,” Lipscomb head coach Jeff Forehand said. “Coach Hudy has done a great job of putting together the whole challenge and that final obstacle course. It’s strength, endurance and conditioning all wrapped into one event.

“It is very exciting for all of us to see what the team has struggled through and then bring us together in the end. The biggest thing we get out of this, on top of the physical conditioning, is the togetherness and team camaraderie. It is very cool to see.”

It was not just the players competing on the final day, but also active military from the 118th AIRLIFT WING, Tennessee Air National Guard in Nashville, Tenn.

The Military who competed were:

Major Dave Morandi

Captain Trey Robinson

Tech Sergeant Chris Hill

Staff Sergeant Robert Smith

Staff Sergeant Brandon Seckel

Also, Master Michelle Clark and Tech Sergeant Garret Travis helped coach and time the players as they ran through the course.

The obstacle course was made up of 23 different tasks set up across Dugan Field. Some of the tasks included: double leg hop over six hurdles, crab walk and bear crawl, push and pull a 225-pound sled, carry two 75-pound dumbbells, flip a 280-pound tire, complete a slalom course, jump a brick wall four times (over and back equaled one), run up and down the stairs around Dugan Field and carrying a punching bag to the left foul pole and back.

Staff Sergeant Seckel led the military with a time of 18:22 minutes. Captain Robinson was the only other serviceman to break the 20 minute mark; he finished at 19:02. Tech Sergeant Hill and Staff Sergeant Smith finished with respectable times of 21:03 and 22:08. Major Morandi rounded out their times with a 27:42 finishing time.

“Captain Trey Robinson is my neighbor and we have gotten him to come out and speak to our team before each season on how to stand properly for our flag and for the guys who defend it for us,” Forehand said. “He has really made a big impact on our team.

“Just to see him and the other guy’s bond and camaraderie they have together is just a testament to what we are trying to get to get our team to. Our guys got a huge benefit of seeing the servicemen and being able to spend some time with them. I couldn’t thank them enough for what they did Thursday.”

For the Bisons, Dalton Keck ran away with the fastest time of 13:32 minutes. Keck was the only person to finish under 15 minutes.

Nick Androse finished second with a 15:05 mark. Grant Massey crossed the finish line with a time of 16:20. Hunter Brothers was not too far behind with 16:45 and Jacob Knott rounds out the top five with a time of 17:21.

The obstacle course was the final individual event of the Omaha Challenge. Massey edged out Tyson Ashcraft as the overall winner and first place among the positional players. Massey ended the four day gauntlet with a score of 428. His finishing time was the deciding factor that crowned him as the champion.

Hunter Brothers maintained his lead and was crowned champion of the pitchers with a score of 404. He was 21 points better than Dalton Curtis. Brothers finished fifth overall.

“We had several guys who could have won this challenge,” Forehand said. “What gets me the most is that it meant so much to the guys to want to be the Omaha Challenge champion.

“Grant (Massey) is a strong-minded, strong-willed and physically strong person and that helps in showing his teammates the way. The same goes for Hunter (Brothers). He is going to anchor our pitching staff and the win is a testament to his character.”

The top five pitchers in order of finish: Hunter Brothers (404), Dalton Curtis (383), Will Blalock (369), Jacob Knott (358) and Nick Androse (282).

The Final Individual Top-10 Standings:

1st – Grant Massey * - 428

2nd – Tyson Ashcraft – 418

3rd – Geordie Carlson – 413

4th – Johnathan Allison – 407

5th – Hunter Brothers ^ - 404 – PITCHER

6th – Weston Wolfe – 388

7th – Dalton Curtis – 383 – PITCHER

8th – Tyler Bethune – 382

9th – Will Blalock – 369 – PITCHER

10th – Dalton Keck – 368

*- Positional player winner

^ - Pitcher winner

After completing the obstacle course, the teams competed in their final event of the challenge, the fireman’s carry. In this event all six teams competed at the same time. Each player had to carry a teammate 230 feet. The player being carried had to start from lying on the ground face up.

In the end, the Yellow team won and gained 240 points. It was the third win in seven team events for the yellow team. The White team finished second, followed by Purple, Gray, Black and Green.

The Yellow squad held on to their lead and finished with a winning score of 2,370 points. The White team caught and passed the Green team in the final event to take home second with a score of 2,200. Green was third with 2,085 points, while Gray (2,055), Black (1,887) and Purple (1,816) round out the team scoring.

Keck made the biggest jump from day one when he finished in 28th. On Tuesday, Keck finished in the top five in five of the six events and gained 158 points to move into 14th. On day three, Keck finished 1st, 6th, 6th and 12th to pick up 100 points and move up three spots to 11th. On the final day, Keck finished 1st and picked up 33 points to move him into 10th place. Over the week, he has steadily climbed the standing and moved up 18 spots in the end.

“Coach (Don) Meyer said it best, ‘when your best players are your hardest workers, you have a good team coming’,” Forehand said. “That is exactly what we have. We really have a solid, solid team where there are no superstars. Everyone has bought in and locked in.”